EPL CEO Richard Scudamore "is adamant that Premier League clubs will oppose Greg Dyke’s proposal for additional home-grown player quotas and has claimed that his competition has become a 'convenient scapegoat' for the failings of the England team," according to Jeremy Wilson of the London TELEGRAPH.
In a wide-ranging interview, Scudamore "also promised action on ticket prices and facilities for disabled supporters in the Premier League but admitted that other countries may now beat England to the controversial plan of staging a league match abroad." He said, "They’ve all got the international round on the agenda -- the Italians, Germans and Spanish. We’d still like to do it, but it’s less likely for us now than it’s ever been."
Scudamore also told journalists to "widen your horizons" in respect of the constant focus on whether English players were getting enough playing time at the leading clubs. He is "urging a broader analysis of the national team’s failure to challenge at major international tournaments and claimed that 'artificially protecting the species' with extra quotas, as proposed by the Football Association, was not the answer." The EPL clubs "believe that the new Elite Player Performance plan, with its focus on 'progressive youth development,' will make a difference and want to see this first being given its chance." The reforms proposed by Dyke, the FA chairman, "would see the minimum number of home-grown players in a club’s first-team squad of 25 increase from eight to 12." The FA "has previously indicated that it could potentially try to enforce the quotas on Premier League clubs but Scudamore believes that his organisation, the FA and the Football League will now sit down 'co-operatively' to work on solutions" (TELEGRAPH, 7/21).
